India takes first Twenty 20 World Cup
Chris Dhambarage reporting
CRICKET: India clinched the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup
with a thrilling five run victory over their arch rivals Pakistan in the
final worked off at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg yesterday.
India were restricted to 157 for 5 from their 20 overs but they
successfully defended that modest total with a fantastic performance on
the field. The game was somewhat slipping away from their hands when
Misbah Ul Haq brought Pakistan closer towards their target with a
sparkling knock of 43 from 38 balls which included four sixes.
Pakistan needed 12 runs from the last over but Joginder Sharma bowled
a splendid last over to dismiss the danger man Misbah Ul Haq in his
third delivery and with that India sealed a memorable and historic
triumph.
India captured wickets at regular intervals with the two opening
bowlers R. P. Singh and with Sreesanth quite outstanding. The former
captured three wickets while Pathan also picked up three wickets for 16
runs from his four overs.
Earlier Umar Gul produced a hostile spell of bowling claming three
wickets for 28 runs to restrict India to 157 for 5 after they had won
the toss and elected to bat first. But seamer Umar Gul rocked the Indian
middle order batting by capturing the key wickets of Yuvraj Singh and
skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Yuvraj who is the batsman in form was caught and bowled and then
Dhoni had his stumps uprooted with a staggering yorker length delivery.
Their early dismissal certainly put lot of pressure on the Indian middle
order.
However Gautam Gambhir rose to the occasion with a top score of 75
from 54 balls and guided India towards a competitive total at the end.
The stylish opener hoisted two sixes and stroked eight boundaries while
putting on 63 runs for the third wicket from 48 deliveries together with
Yuvraj Singh.
India of course got off to a slow start and collected just 40 runs
during the power play overs. The main reason is because they lost two
early wickets within the first six overs of the innings.
India the 1983 World Cup champions failed to gather substantial
momentum mid way in their innings and managed to stroke only four sixes
and 13 fours.
The Indian innings was boosted by a late flourish from Rohith Sharma
who hammered a quick 30 from 16 balls with the help of one six and two
boundaries.
India reached their one hundred run mark in the 14th over but
accelerated the rate during the latter stages of the innings and crossed
the 150 run mark during the last over.
JOHANNESBURG, Monday
INDIA:
G. Gambhir c Asif b Gul 75
Yousuf Pathan c Malik b Asif 15
R. Uthappa c Afridi b Tanvir 08
Y. Singh c and b Gul 14
M. Dhoni b Gul 06
R. Sharma not out 30
Irfan Pathan not out 03
EXTRAS: (1lb, 1nb, 4w) 06
TOTAL (for five wickets) 157
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-25 (Yousuf Pathan), 2-40 (Uthappa),
3-103 (Yuvraj), 4-111 (Dhoni), 5-130 (Gambhir).
BOWLING: Asif 3-0-25-1 (w1), Tanvir 4-0-29-1 (w2),
Afridi 4-0-30-0, Hafeez 3-0-25-0, Gul 4-0-28-3 (nb1, w1), Arafat 2-0-19-0
Overs: 20
PAKISTAN:
Mohammad Hafeez c Uthappa b Rudra Pratap 02
Imran Nazir run out (Uthappa) 33
Kamran Akmal b Rudra Pratap 00
Y Khan c Y Pathan b J. Sharma 24
S Malik c R. Sharma b Irfan Pathan 08
Misbah-ul-Haq c Sreesanth b Sharma 43
Shahid Afridi c Sreesanth b Irfan Pathan 00
Yasir Arafat b Irfan Pathan 15
Sohail Tanvir b Sreesanth 12
Umar Gul lbw b Rudra Pratap 00
Mohammad Asif not out 03
EXTRAS: (b1, lb4, w6, nb1) 12
TOTAL (all out) 152
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 (Hafeez), 2-26 (Akmal), 3-53 (Nazir),
4-65 (Younis), 5-76 (Malik), 6-77 (Afridi), 7-104 (Arafat),
8-138 (Tanvir), 9-141 (Gul)
BOWLING: Rudra Pratap 4-0-26-3 (nb1), Sreesanth 4-1-44-1 (w2),
J. Sharma 3.3-0-20-2 (w2), Yousuf Pathan 1-0-5-0,
Irfan Pathan 4-0-16-3 (w1), Harbhajan 3-0-36-0 (w1)
Overs: 19.3
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